Russian Ambassador to Turkey shot dead

CNN reported the attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" before firing at the diplomat.

Ankara, Dec 19: A Turkish policeman crying "Aleppo" and "revenge" shot dead Russia's ambassador to Turkey at an art exhibition in Ankara today, in what Moscow said was a "terrorist act". Andrei Karlov died of his wounds after the shooting, which occurred on the eve of a key meeting between the Russian, Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers on the Syria conflict.

Dramatic television footage showed a man in a dark suit and tie waving a gun and gesturing in the air at the Ankara exhibition hall. The state-run Anadolu news agency said the gunman had been "neutralised" in a police operation, without giving further details. "Today in Ankara as a result of an attack the Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov received wounds that he died from," ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in televised comments. "We qualify what happened as a terrorist act." The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had been informed of the attack.

Karlov was shot while making a speech at a painting exhibition in the Turkish capital, the Russian embassy said, adding it believed that it was a radical Islamist attack. Karlov was envoy since July 2013.

The incident came after days of protests in Turkey over Russia's role in Syria, although Moscow and Ankara are now working closely together to evacuate citizens from the battered city of Aleppo. Pictures published by the Hurriyet daily showed at least two men in suits lying flat on the ground as another man brandished a gun. The mayor of Ankara identified the attacker as a Turkish policeman. The shooting took place at the Cagdas Sanatlar Merkezi, a major art exhibition hall in the Cankaya district of Ankara where most foreign embassies are located including Russia's mission.

"It happened during the opening of an exhibition," Hurriyet correspondent Hasim Kilic, who was at the scene, told AFP. "When the ambassador was delivering a speech, a tall man wearing a suit, fired into the air first and then took aim at the ambassador," said Kilic. "He said something about Aleppo and 'revenge'. He ordered the civilians to leave the room. When people were fleeing, he fired again," he added. Protesters in Turkey have held Moscow responsible for human rights violations in Aleppo. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu was at the scene to supervise a police operation, Turkish television said.

Turkey and Russia saw relations plunge to their worst levels since the Cold War last year when a Turkish jet shot down a Russian war plane over Syria. They stand on opposite sides of the Syria conflict with Ankara backing rebels trying to topple Moscow ally President Bashar al-Assad. But the rhetoric has warmed considerably since a a reconciliation deal was signed earlier this year and a Russian and Turkish-brokered deal has helped the evacuation of citizens from Aleppo in the last days.

IANS (with input from agencies)